Nwobike’s nadir

When Justice Raliat Adebiyi of the High Court of Lagos State sitting in Ikoyi   pronounced a one-month jail sentence on Joseph Nwobike   Ph. D, SAN, for attempting to pervert the course of justice, a painful pall descended on Nigeria`s legal community. Here was the law taking its sometimes ponderous but ultimately painful course on one […]

When Justice Raliat Adebiyi of the High Court of Lagos State sitting in Ikoyi   pronounced a one-month jail sentence on Joseph Nwobike   Ph. D, SAN, for attempting to pervert the course of justice, a painful pall descended on Nigeria`s legal community. Here was the law taking its sometimes ponderous but ultimately painful course on one of Nigeria`s most distinguished legal practitioners. With that judgment, a law practice that was well at its pinnacle was placed in grave peril. An appeal is expected, up to the Supreme Court. If at the exhaustion of his right to appeal, Nwobike’s conviction  is not set aside, the  law will operate to bring down  a legal practice built through years of toil and  tears and as the court now says, illegal conduct and contacts .If it finally happens, it will be one of the most painful days for Nigeria`s legal profession, long suspected by many Nigerians as complicit in Nigeria`s corruption epidemic. Many Nigerians believe it is just one conviction out of many that should happen. Time will determine.

Sadly, many Nigerians who waver between hope and despair at the state of Nigeria as a country nurse a growing conviction that Nigeria`s many problems are intractable and terminal. It largely explains, for example, why many young Nigerians will do anything to leave the country, and many others who are already outside Nigeria will do anything not to return. It explains why many Nigerians seek change but are reluctant to make the painful sacrifices necessary for change. This group of Nigerians which are unfortunately large in number believe that there is no point “wasting medication and tears on a child who will never get better.”

 This despair at the state of things in Nigeria is directly responsible for the pockets of   disturbances that rock the polity episodically and the violent challenges to the Nigerian state that have morphed into nightmarish security issues. When these situations of insecurity are added to the economic hardship ravaging families and what many believe to be the ineffective and inequitable governance style of the Buhari administration, the grim picture is complete.

Cheerily, Nigerians are showing a new-found strain of civic responsibility and awareness which is emblematic of a growing democracy and a maturing electorate. Nigerians, as shown during the general elections of 2015, know that many possibilities abound at the ballot box. More than knowing what is possible when the right to vote is exercised, Nigerians are now actually anticipating what they can do with their votes in the general elections of 2019.

 Nigeria is a country of many laws but very   little enforcement and grave impunity. It explains why culprits are hardly brought to justice over grave violations of laws and public property which would include public trust and public funds. It explains why the law ponders painfully when faced with situations of possible breaches.

It is likeliest that Dr. Nwobike `s fate will be finally determined on appeal. But whether his conviction is upheld or upturned , Nigerians will most likely remember his conviction as the day the law made its biggest  attempt yet  to  sanitize the legal profession, which is indubitably Nigeria`s most critical public profession.

While no single individual or profession can take all the blame for the devastation Nigeria has undergone under the years, for the sake of our democracy and posterity, all those who have contributed directly or indirectly must be properly identified and   punished strictly in accordance with the laws. For now, Nigeria`s legal community waits with bated breath for Dr. Nwobike `s final fate. It could be another flash in the pan or the beginning of something uncomfortable but necessary for the legal profession and Nigeria as a whole.

Kene Obiezu, Abuja